The IDF Northern Command has been on heightened alert since last week when Hezbollah threatened retaliation for an alleged Israeli airstrike on its bases.

The IDF identified a terrorist cell attempting to plant a bomb on the Syrian border on Wednesday morning.

The cell was operating on the Syrian part of the Golan Heights, very close to the new border fence. The attack was orchestrated by Hezbollah, according to security sources.

An IDF tank fired shells at the suspects, striking them.

The army said the attack had been successfully thwarted, but had no immediate word on the gunmen’s condition.

Last weekend, two rockets were fired from Syria at Mount Hermon in what the defense establishment suspects was a Hezbollah attack.

There was no response from Hezbollah about Wednesday’s attack, but Syria’s armed forces said in a statement that Israeli rockets, tank shells and rifle fire had wounded seven security force personnel and four civilians in Syrian-controlled territory.

It accused Israel of violating the 40-year-old military disengagement accord reached after the Yom Kippur War and said the incident showed Israel was actively supporting the rebels in the Syrian civil war.

The IDF’s Northern Command has been on heightened alert since Hezbollah threatened to retaliate after accusing Israel of bombing one of its bases near the Lebanon-Syria border on February 24. International media reports said Israeli jets hit a Hezbollah base in eastern Lebanon where recently smuggled advanced weapons from Syria were being stored.

Israel did not confirm carrying out the air strike, in keeping with its official silence on at least three such attacks in the last year targeting suspected Hezbollah-bound weapons convoys from Syria. It said it would hold Beirut responsible for any Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon.